‘They had been close companions. He had looked into her beautiful face and seen the luminous response of her lovely eyes, but its meaning had not flashed upon his mind.’
IN the Love Month of the Year of the Tiger may you find true romance: “Dear Nancy, Going wrong way but still it is one day nearer — I love you, Ronnie (c. March 1995) [The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan. NY: Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation/Random House, Inc., 2000]
For Cupid’s casualties: “Although Elizebeth found William attractive, she was drawn at first to his way of carrying himself, his scrupulous precision about words and facts and clothes, his modesty…It felt healing, like drinking a glass of cold lemonade after a long walk. And what a mind he had! … And he was so playful about it all…He enjoyed science because it was an interesting way of being alive.”
“Elizebeth and William were growing closer. She didn’t know what to call it–more than friends, less than lovers. William would perch in a rocking chair sometimes and she would sit on his lap as he pushed the chair forward and back, his thin arms around her thin waist, the chair creaking in a steady rhythm, neither of them saying much at all.” [Jason Fagone. The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted Americas Enemies. NY: HarperCollins, 2017]
For the incorrigible romantic: “From the earliest I can remember, I knew my grandparents (George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush) were in love. They wrote each other letters filled with romance and longing when they were young–and later in life, love emails. They held hands under the dining room table…After Ganny died, we thought Gampy would miss her so much he wouldn’t live long without her. And in fact, two days after her funeral, he was hospitalized. His heart stopped twice, only to be revived. ‘His heart is broken’ … He made it clear, though, that he wanted to spend one more summer in Maine, his other great love.” [Jenna Bush Hager. Everything Beautiful In Its Time. NY: HarperCollins, 2020]
For the realist: “Even wholesome family entertainment like Bambi spun me for more of a loop than Abe Saffron’s goon breaking someone’s hand. I mean, what is the message of death and carnage in that ‘kids’ cartoon? Bambi and his mother go off in search of grass to eat and his mother gets shot and killed. Then, when Bambi tries to mate, he has to fight off a violent suitor and kill him to get the doe-fawn. And finally, saving his love from a fire, Bambi is shot and narrowly escapes with his father.” [Tabatha Coffey. It’s Not Really About the Hair: The Honest Truth About Life, Love, and the Business of Beauty. NY: HarperCollins, 2011]
For the Children of the Golden Calf: “Dollars–they have this intoxicating, exotic generosity of spirit. The way a dollar bill can generate endless renminbi out of thin air, it’s like magic; down they float into your outstretched hands, your eyes raised heavenward, gratefully receiving this riot, this shower of fortune. Just give me a chance and I’d show the world exactly what kind of a carefree, rust-less spending machine I could be. Then, after throwing it all away, just as my friends have predicted, I’d live out my later years in lonely poverty. This kind of finale suited me down to the ground: even if I still had a thing for younger women.” [Wen Zhu. I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China. Translated from the Chinese by Julia Lovell. (Weatherhead books on Asia). NY: Columbia University Press, 2007]
For the anticipatory: “My stomach fluttered with nerves as I followed them to the table. I found the last chair left for me, strategically placed right beside Ryan’s friend, who stood, pulled it out for me, and draped my napkin over my thighs. ‘You must be Juliette,’ he said in a smooth voice with a slight southern accent.” [Fixing the Future: A Business Of Love by Ali Parker]
For the technician: Babhravya has related to us the eight kinds of embraces. Jataveshtitaka, or the twining of a creeper. Vrikshadhirudhaka, or climbing a tree. Tila-Tandulaka, or the mixture of sesamum seed with rice. Kshiraniraka, or milk and water embrace. Touching. Piercing. Rubbing. Pressing. Suvarnanabha, moreover, gives us four ways of embracing simple members of the body, which are The embrace of the thighs. The embrace of the jaghana, i.e., the part of the body from the navel downwards to the thighs.
The embrace of the breasts. The embrace of the forehead. “Some say that even shampooing is a kind of embrace, because there is a touching of bodies in it.” [The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana]
For the unexpected: “He left home for the university of Bonn. Here he disappointed all his friends. His studies were neglected; he was morose, restless, and dissatisfied. He fell into a number of scrapes, and ran into debt through sundry small extravagances. All the reports that reached his home were most unsatisfactory. What had come over the boy who had worked so hard in the gymnasium at Treves? The simple fact was that he had become love-sick. His separation from Jenny von Westphalen had made him conscious of a feeling which he had long entertained without knowing it. They had been close companions. He had looked into her beautiful face and seen the luminous response of her lovely eyes, but its meaning had not flashed upon his mind. He was not old enough to have a great consuming passion, he was merely conscious of her charm. As he could see her every day, he did not realize how much he wanted her, and how much a separation from her would mean.” [Lyndon Orr. “The Story Of Karl Marx.” Famous Affinities Of History: The Romance Of Devotion. Volumes 1-4, Complete]
For the alpha geek: “Marriage is a career, the greatest and most wonderful in the world.
Fancy watching your sons ripening into manhood, moulding their characters, forming their views; your sons, your very very own…Surely the career of careers; and what can be happier than a large and well managed family, with a devoted mother…Oh Molly this is such a miserable letter, and was going to be such a nice one. I’ve crossed out the bits about the calculus, it was written before I got your letter, and I haven’t heart to rewrite it all. Of course, I must bore you to tears with my silly old maths.” [Mary Stopes-Roe. Mathematics With Love: The Courtship Correspondence of Barnes Wallis, Inventor of the Bouncing Bomb. Hampshire: Macmillan, 2005]
For the calendar-checker: “I remember last year on this date I wanted to do a broadcast over KZRH about St. Valentine. I went down to Church House to consult the library and Father Gray about certain facts relative to St. Valentine…Those happy days! Today as I passed the building long lines of soldiers’ undies were flying from the sun porches of the Sky Room–that gay and sophisticated rendezvous of all Manila–Curse this war, curse it heartily! This Saturday night all that I see is tinged with yellow, and all that I hear is that hideous sound of dragging feet and guttural grunts.” [Diary of Gladys Savary, February 14, 1942]
For the expectant: “Inside of my heart, Is an army of angels waiting for war…” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s67iwaoD-s&t=32s]
